Hi everyone!! I have been studying Latin for the last 2 months and love it!!!!! I am glad to have found an online comnunity that can help me go. After I learn Latin well enough, I plan on studying Ancient Greek, so this site seems perfect for that. Thanks yall!!!!!!!

Lostntym8 wrote:Hey! I'm Timothy Scott Lawson. I go by my middle name Scott on accounta my mom didn't want two Tims in the house...My dad's first name is Timothy but his middle name is Dare! Αμεν, αμεν λεγω ὑμιν! I have been chipping away at Biblical Greek since I was 20...I'm now 44...Ugh! My definition of experience is doing something wrong for 20 years and getting away with it...well it works for me in the plumbing industry. I've been plumbing since I was 16...My God has it been that long!? I'm interested in conversing with others of like interest...not plumbing...though!!!...unless it is in Greek.

Now if THAT didn't sound too oddball for this company then maybe I won't have to worry so much anymore.

I have been studying Latin for about a year and a half and have vague plans to begin Greek in the not too distant future. I've been out of college for a few years and am not studying Latin for any particular course or grade, but rather for enjoyment and to get a better understanding of the English language.

Latin has been a fascinating experience, but, alas, I find it to be a rather solitary pursuit, largely because I know almost no one who knows the language and only a few people who appreciate the classics. With that in mind, my hope, in joining this forum is to meet some people with whom I can discuss all things Latin. And perhaps what little insight and knowledge I have can be of use to some of the members of this forum as well.

Salvete! Just wanted to introduce myself here. I'm a sophomore in college, and I've studied Latin since I was a freshman in high school. My ambition is to be a medievalist, and in order to be one I need to increase my Latin fluency (largely my vocabulary), which I am using Lingua Latina to do in addition to read more of Vergil using Pharr's edition of the Aeneid. I thought I would join in order to engage in conversation about Latin in general that will increase my skill level and hopefully help other people as well.

I'm a linguaphile and recent student of Latin. I had intended to take Latin back in highschool, but the school cut the Latin program and I chose to take German instead. I have since taken detours of various degrees through French, Mandarin, Japanese, and Swedish, but now I'm again interested in Latin.

I've gotten upto the fourth unit in the late Gavin Bett's Teach Yourself Latin and am starting to come up with questions not addressed in that text.

I found this forum through Google: I was pleasantly surprised to find a thread civilly discussing the rise and fall of inflectional systems -- an area of inquiry I am intensely interested in. I was even more pleased to find that the forum is full of learners of classical languages, who might be able to help me with my Latin questions.

Salve, Forum! My name is Dave Brumbley and I’m here primarily to work on my Latin. I intend to get back to Greek at some point as well, but for the moment, Latin is my primary focus. I received a Classical Studies Minor from East Carolina University some years ago, and had a very fast-paced formal introduction to both languages through the 103 and 104 level, but it has been years since I actively studied in a formal setting. I’ve recently begun getting myself back into Latin through independent study, and I plan to continue my studies until I achieve at least a moderate level of reading fluency with both prose and poetry. I look forward to receiving feedback through this forum on my work in translation, which is to say that I look forward to my clumsy attempts being shredded like so much lettuce, so that I may learn from the pieces.

My first post. I'm 60, first took an interest in Greek in my early 20s, but didn't pursue it far enough so now I'm making a fresh start with it. I'm not sure whether to go first for Attic (for my interest in the great playwrights especially) or Homeric. I still have the old Smith and Melluish Teach yourself, as well as the newer Betts and Henry for Attic, and a printed copy of Pharr as revised by John Wright, but I guess I'm now inclining more towards Homeric. Anyway, I've got the tools so now it's time to put in the hours and hope I'll be able in the end to post more answers than Questions in the forums .

I stumbled across this site when googling resources for learning Ancient Greek.

Little bit about myself, I have been to university where I wanted to do a Bachelor of Arts but ended up choosing business and law.

I’m a native English speaker which should help with comprehending the texts involved. At school I studied French for a year or two, did correspondence German for a year and did a student exchange to the Netherlands for a year where I learnt Dutch fluently (written and spoken). I’m pretty rusty now in Dutch but if someone speaks to me I can still fully understand them.

I studied history and classical studies at school and have been interested in the Ancient Greek and Roman worlds since I was young.

I’ve always wanted to learn either Latin or Greek, but my schools were pretty useless in that they didn’t offer them, they only offered French (hence the correspondence German).

Even now I’m still a little unsure whether I should learn Latin or Greek, I’m leaning heavily towards Greek as I’d like a challenge, (I was also conceived in Greece) and would like to read some classical Greek literature/philosophy. I’m also keen to learn a new alphabet.

Any tips on which book to start with will be much appreciated – I briefly looked at “A First Greek Course” by Sir William Smith.

My main question is, with these ancient languages, do people aim to master them orally? Or just the written form? How would you go by learning how to speak Ancient Greek, or at least pronounce the vowels etc.

Lastly I’m also leaning towards Attic Greek as there is more information on this dialect and seems it is where most people start?

My main question is, with these ancient languages, do people aim to master them orally? Or just the written form? How would you go by learning how to speak Ancient Greek, or at least pronounce the vowels etc.

My sense is that the vast majority of people who are studying Ancient Greek focus on reading only. In my humble opinion, learning to write and listen to and speak Ancient Greek will vastly increase reading fluency, but most people do not accept this premise and choose to stick with the traditional method of grammar-translation, which focuses only on reading Greek and speaking ABOUT Greek, not in Greek. Of course, many people also want to know how Greek sounded, but again, only academically, not as part of a commitment to use it actively.

There are several on-line sites and resources where Ancient Greek is spoken communicatively. If you are interested in this approach, you will find these sites soon enough.

I think Latin learners are a little more receptive to treating it as a living language.

I don't know the answer to this, but you can also ask yourself how good your Dutch would be if you only read it, instead of speaking it and hearing it and writing it. Also, how much did reading ABOUT Dutch help you master it. At what point did you transition to a Dutch-only dictionary?

My sense is that the vast majority of people who are studying Ancient Greek focus on reading only. In my humble opinion, learning to write and listen to and speak Ancient Greek will vastly increase reading fluency, but most people do not accept this premise and choose to stick with the traditional method of grammar-translation, which focuses only on reading Greek and speaking ABOUT Greek, not in Greek.

Hi Markos thanks for the reply. I'm not sure how they can even read Greek without knowing how it is meant to be said... I am definitely keen on trying to learn how to speak and read Greek. I learnt Dutch both by speaking it (total immersion) and by reading and writing out verb books. I'd say I learnt best by mastering how to say each consonant, each vowel and each diphthong and then moved on to learning the actual words and grammar.

If you could point me to a first book, I see there are many out there. A couple of the books I've looked at seem to work on the premise that you already know a year or so of Latin which I don't. I need something I can start from square one.

Daniel: If you could point me to a first book, I see there are many out there.

If you read a little French, German, or Italian, I would get the respective edition of Christophe Rico's Polis. If not, I would wait for his English edition to come out, and in the meantime I would get Bedwere's Lulu edition of the Greek Ollendorff (and the answer key)

Daniel, I'm firmly in Markos's camp. I'd just like to emphasize that whatever you do, and whatever resource you use, take the language as actual communication. Do not take Greek as a code. The grammar-translation approach (used in 99.9% of material out there) teaches you the rules of the code (forms and grammar) and then asks you to "break the code" by practicing little bits of translation. This is an inefficient way of learning a language for the vast majority of learners.

Though inefficient, it's also an attractive way to study Greek. xxx Definable progress is made quickly. A smaller amount of code is not that difficult to learn. xxx Most people follow this method. It's an incredibly rare thing that you've run into us two who would advise anything other than the standard approach. xxx Resources and clear directions for learning Greek without approaching it as code are scarce.

Get some material. Understand it. Think it.

After you've absorbed enough of it, when you feel phrases bubbling out of your brain, you can start writing or speaking what you have understood. Writing and speaking TOO early is counterproductive. It is not counterproductive because you might make mistakes (mistakes are not a problem). But (because of brain processes that are beyond my clear understanding) producing language too early forces you to dip into the wrong parts of your brain. The result is your brain bogs down, or gets used to looking in the wrong places for output. A similar problem comes up when children are taught to read too early. Some studies say that is a direct cause of dyslexia.

The Living Koine series, Book 1, is a good starting point, in my opinion. It's all absorption. The book has you listening to high quality audio as you look at simple pictures and very short story-lines. Recently, it's been made available as a video at a cheaper price, $25, I think.

Daniel wrote:I am definitely keen on trying to learn how to speak and read Greek. I learnt Dutch both by speaking it (total immersion) and by reading and writing out verb books. I'd say I learnt best by mastering how to say each consonant, each vowel and each diphthong and then moved on to learning the actual words and grammar.

If you could point me to a first book, I see there are many out there. A couple of the books I've looked at seem to work on the premise that you already know a year or so of Latin which I don't. I need something I can start from square one.

Any help is much appreciated.

You could do well to check the comments on Ricco's book in the Learning Greek section of this forum but in the meantime a few points:

It really doesn't matter that Ricco's book is not in English. His approach is all about not explaining things and getting you to work it out for yourself.Greek Olendorf is very analytical - the audio exists because Bedwere has recently to take record it.Ricco's approach is inductive so a lot isn't explained and he exposes you to stuff he isn't teaching that point so concentrate on the bits he flags up and don't worry about not understanding everything.There is something to be said for doing both together and the Greek Olendorf is downloadable for free.

We all want read Ancient Greek texts so why speak and why produce Greek?Because listening and then repeating and producing (whether by actually speaking or in written form) helps you remember it.

You will be very welcome to join our weather forum on the The Agora part of this forum.We do drift off topic occasionally and we do try an say things that no Ancient Greek ever did (and discuss the difference between Fahrenheit and Celsius) but you can stick to report something simple like telling us that today it is cold/warm etc

I have been studying Latin for a few years now and feel more and more drawn to Medieval, Neo- and Contemporary Latin. Reading these texts and about their authors being non-native writers/speakers of Latin has made me interested in developing a more active command of the language, something I hope to be able to achieve by joining this great forum.

Hello,I'm back after years absent. Now two things changed a little: I am retired and I am reseaerching History, so, apart the original interest in Latin, now I need that language to read some old documents, so I think I will not anbandon the study after a few lessons. Paulus

I am interested in getting an understanding of Koine Greek in regards to the New Testament. I do have a question regarding the rendering of a particular verse -- should I ask it here, or on the Learn Greek board? Thank you!

I am interested in getting an understanding of Koine Greek in regards to the New Testament. I do have a question regarding the rendering of a particular verse -- should I ask it here, or on the Learn Greek board? Thank you!

Brian

Definitely the learning Greek board. Not everyone who would be able to answer your question checks this section of the forum.

I love Ancient Greek and Roman history, but up until now I've just been reading about Roman and Greek culture. I'd like to actually read all of the classics in the languages they were written in. I'm also interested because pretty much any academic work pre 18th/19th century was written in Latin. I'm currently trying to work my way through Wheelock's and I was looking for a community that could help me along

Hello! I'm Andrew from UK. I'm currently taking Hermeneutics. Familiarising myself in Greek alphabets and how it pronouns is what I am doing right now. Likewise, learning the 8 cases of noun and the illustration of it in masculine cases articular.

I had a couple years of Ancient Greek in college (not enough, unfortunately) and am now halfway through the two-year Latin sequence as well. I look forward to pestering the community with all kinds of questions.

hi all I'm Mitch and I live in Australia near Sydney. A while ago I started to read fiction/literature again and so... ended up reading blank verse translations by Fagles of The Illiad and The Odyssey with The Aeneid next in line (though I've got a literature text to read for an online course I'm doing so too many books as usual).

Anyway, I've tried and reached a miserably bad level at some other languages so I thought Latin looks familiar and right now I'm into antiquity so here I am.

Hi! I'm Reuel. I'm graduating in greek at São Paulo University - Brazil and I'm really enjoying the course and the greek language. Recently I studied with professo Christophe Rico, and it made me want more greek in my life

I'm thinking about starting the latin course next year, but now my focus is on greek, and at the TPR approach.

Hey everyone I'm John. I'm really interested in learning Latin and eventually Greek. I'm self teaching because my school doesn't offer Latin or Greek. I plan to major in Classics when I graduate and go off to college and hopefully will be able to read and write fluently in Latin and be proficient in Greek by the time I graduate. If anyone has any advice for self teaching I would be really appreciative toward anyone trying to give me tips.

Good afternoon.I am Elizabeth Anne, aged 65, British by birth but French by marriage (since December 1970).I learned Latin at school, and have kept an interest in it ever since. I started to teach myself ancient Greek after retirement ten years ago, and followed the beginners' course with the CNED (French national centre for distance learning). I also attended the summer school in ancient Greek (level 2) in Louvain la Neuve (Belgium) two years running (in 2011 and 2012).I have now enrolled for the Diplôme d'Université at the University of Bordeaux by distance learning, for Latin and Greek, from September. If I can successfully complete the two-year course, I hope to enrol for a degree in Classics from September 2015. If I can manage that, I would have a degree in Classics by the time I am 71, and possibly a doctorate in ten years or so...